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And honestly, after 5+ years of Broad/Gates I'm not as anti-charter as I was. I'm definitely anti-voucher still. I know the stats -- only 17% of charters outperform schools with similar demographics while 34% underperform them. And in PA, both of those numbers are larger (19% outperform and nearly 40% underperform).

But this district has left no places untouched by their heavy hand. You can't escape the scripted, paced curriculum. There isn't time left if you're keeping up with that for other things -- longer term projects, field trips, etc.

What the magnets used to be (or were meant to be) is what charters could be.

Now, that said, I don't think charters should be affiliated with Students First or any other state or national group that's pushing a "charters are the answer" agenda. There aren't big answers or silver bullets, there's just a lot of hard work to be done, one kid, one classroom at a time.

Broad won you over without your knowledge. The goal is charter schools...profit. It is called "venture philanthropy" for a reason. They expect a return on their investment. They wear communities down and tear them apart.